The Hindus fallout

       I mentioned Penguin India's shocking decision to recall and pulp Wendy Doniger's The Hindus: An Alternative History yesterday, and it's good to see that there's been a decent amount of media coverage (albeit mainly Indian). Penguin -- the Indian branch, especially, but the global juggernaut as a whole too -- has so far gotten off incredibly lightly. (I know it's cold in New York, but there's really no one picketing the local offices ?)

       Among new noteworthy coverage and reactions:

• The Times of India prints Arundhati Roy' open letter to (her publisher) Penguin, Wendy Doniger's book: 'You must tell us what terrified you'. She notes: "You owe us, your writers an explanation at the very least" -- and I hope a lot of other Penguin authors agree. (Among the many disappointing aspects of this case is the silence Penguin has maintained regarding their actions.) As she notes: "What you have done affects us all".
  
  
• In Time Nilanjana Bhowmick has a Q & A with the 'aggrieved' party, Shiksha Bachao Andolan president Dinanath Batra, Sex, Lies and Hinduism: Why A Hindu Activist Targeted Wendy Doniger's Book. Arguments such as: "When I read the book, I felt hurt. It hurt my sentiments" don't exactly help convince me (indeed, I feel hurt by them, and this act of censorship; my sentiments are hurt by them -- can/should I sue ?).
  
  
• Chandrahas Choudhury sums up things nicely at Bloomberg, in A Book Publisher Embraces Self-Censorship in India -- pointing out that: "If anything, the real offense to Hinduism consists in one of the best recent books on Hindu myth, memory, narrative and practice being made unavailable in the very country where it would have the most power to affect the tradition it describes and interprets."
  
  
• At The Daily Beast Tunku Varadaraja forcefully denounces India's Shameful Failure to Defend Historian of Hinduism -- noting: "Penguin India buckled. Penguin India wilted. Penguin India wet itself, and entered into an agreement with this semi-literate goon. Penguin India capitulated to blackmail, to the threats of a cultural mobster. Penguin India turned chicken". (Maybe they'll change the logo to reflect that ?)
  
  
• 'English PEN is concerned by reports that Wendy Doniger's The Hindus: An Alternative History is to be withdrawn and pulped by publisher Penguin Books India', in: India: writers defend best-selling book
  
  
• In an op-ed, the Times of India suggests: Withdrawal of Doniger book highlights sway of Taliban-like forces in India
  
  
• In a Q & A at the Wall Street Journal's India Realtime weblog Joanna Sugden speaks with Penguin author and secretary of the India chapter of PEN International Ranjit Hoskote, in: Penguin Writer: 'This Is the Worst Time for Free Speech Since Independence'

       Penguin Random House -- as the monstrosity is now known as -- has a lot to answer for, and their silence on this matter is disappointing (and should be considered unacceptable); I hope that there will be more US, UK, and other media scrutiny into this (and Penguin Random House authors should certainly have a few questions for them too ...).